Spaso Eleazarovsky Monastery on the map. Elizarovo. Spaso-Eleazarovsky Convent. How the monastery was founded

Address: Russia, Pskov region, Pskov district, Elizarovo village
Date of foundation: 1447
Main attractions: Cathedral of the Three Saints, Church of Gabriel the Archangel in the abbot's house
Shrines: Constantinople Icon of the Mother of God, Savior Pantocrator of Eleazarov
Coordinates: 58°03"00.5"N 28°11"31.8"E
Object of cultural heritage of the Russian Federation

Each monastery has its own dedication. The ancient monastery in the village of Elizarovo, Pskov region, is no exception. In former times it was called the Three Hierarchs because they founded an Orthodox monastery in honor of the great Cappadocians - John Chrysostom, Gregory the Theologian and Basil the Great. Nowadays, it is a functioning convent that attracts not only pilgrims. Many lovers of Russian history and temple architecture come here.

Holy Gate

How the monastery was founded

The first to settle in the place where the monastery now stands were the sisters of the Pskov St. John's Monastery, which was located in Pskov. However, it was difficult for women to develop the forest wasteland located near Lake Peipus, and soon the community left it.

Time passed, and in 1425 the 29-year-old monk of the Snetogorsk monastery Efrosin ended up here. He was born in the village of Videlibye in the Pskov region and before becoming a monk bore the name Eleazar. It is known that the monk was well educated and was considered a great book lover and a theologian. As a monk, Euphrosynus made a pilgrimage to Constantinople and met the patriarch there.

At first the monk lived alone in the forest, but gradually other hermits gathered around him. The place where they settled was remote from people. Makeshift wooden cells stood under a hill, between two branches of the Tolba River. And although everyone wanted to build a monastery here, there was not much room for the construction of temples and other buildings in the river floodplain.

View of the monastery from road 58K-96

According to the surviving legend, Efrosin saw a dream in which three saints appeared before him. They gave the elder advice - to tear down the hill and cover one of the Tolba branches with earth. Euphrosynus told the monks about the miraculous vision, and they acted on the advice of the saints. On the resulting site, thanks to the monks and peasants, a cathedral and new monastic cells appeared.

In the history of the church, Euphrosyne is revered as an ascetic and mentor. He became a teacher for many monks who, leaving the walls of their native monastery, founded 10 other monasteries in the Pskov lands. It is curious that many of his students were later canonized by the church.

Efrosin himself was distinguished by great modesty and preferred to lead a solitary life. Therefore, even when the monastery was founded, he did not take on the duties of its abbot and did not accept the priesthood. The first to lead the brethren was Abbot Ignatius.

View of the monastery from the pond

Shortly before his death, Efrosin took the schema under his worldly name Eleazar. The elder died in 1491 at the age of 95, and was buried in the Cathedral of the Three Hierarchs. According to Efrosin's will, all property belonging to him was divided among the brethren, and in memory of the founder the monastery began to be called Eleazarovsky.

History of the monastery from the 16th century to the present day

The Pskov-Pechersk monastery advocated maintaining the independence of Pskov from the Moscow princes. The Eleazarovsky Monastery, on the contrary, called for the unification of scattered lands under the leadership of Moscow. At the beginning of the 16th century, Elder Philotheus lived in the monastery. Almost no information about this monk has survived, with the exception of his messages addressed to the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily III. The monk wrote several letters, and in one of which he said that two Roman empires were destroyed, Moscow is the third Rome, and “there will never be a fourth.”

In his letters, Philotheus called Basil III “the Orthodox Tsar” and called not to break the commandments laid down by his great predecessors - Emperor Constantine, Saint Vladimir and Yaroslav the Wise. This concept was taken up by the Grand Duke and formed the basis of Russian statehood. The interpretation “Moscow is the third Rome” became widespread, and starting from John III, all Moscow sovereigns were considered the successors of the emperors of Rome and Byzantium.

Cathedral of the Three Saints. View of the southern façade of the cathedral

The monks of the Eleazarovsky Monastery were engaged in the creation of handwritten books. The monks who lived here compiled the life of the founder of the monastery, Elder Euphrosynus, edited the second Pskov Chronicle, and also rewrote the old copy of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” It was this manuscript that was discovered at the end of the 18th century by the famous collector of antiquities, Count Alexei Musin-Pushkin.

The border position had a negative impact on the monastery. It was repeatedly robbed by Lithuanians, Poles and Livonian knights who attacked Russian lands. By the middle of the 18th century, the role of the Eleazar monastery decreased. Monks were transferred to it from several monasteries abolished by decree of Catherine II, and the monastery received the status of a second-class monastery.

At the beginning of the 20th century, daily services were held here, and there was an almshouse supporting the elderly and disabled. The monastery lived according to the communal rules. The monks tried to adhere to an ascetic lifestyle following the example of the founder of the monastery, Elder Euphrosynus. The inhabitants carried out all the household work, and also worked in carpentry, tailoring and shoemaking workshops.

First nursing corps

In 1918, the new authorities closed the monastery, and the monks were sent on carts towards Petrograd. According to surviving documents, all the monks were shot. Until 1920, the life of the monastery church was maintained by the efforts of several believers, and several times visiting commissions removed church valuables from it.

Then an institute was organized on the monastery territory, however, professors and students soon moved to St. Petersburg. For a long time, the former monastery alternately housed experimental agricultural production, the People's House, an educational institution for mentally retarded children, a sanatorium for those suffering from tuberculosis, and a recreation center. Then there was a children's camp and living quarters here.

By 1999, only the ancient Trinity Cathedral with a destroyed bell tower and the building for the brethren, built at the beginning of the last century, had survived from the old monastery buildings. A year after the transfer of the territory of the convent, the first church service was held here. And then, for several years, Pskov restorers restored churches and buildings.

Chapel of the Savior of the Image Not Made by Hands

What can you see in the monastery these days?

Today the monastery has been beautifully restored. The main thing in it is the majestic Trinity Cathedral. The first stone temple appeared on this site in 1447, and then was rebuilt many times. Today it is a three-apse, single-domed church with a small bell tower above the stairs. It has 7 bells cast by Voronezh craftsmen.

In the snow-white abbot's house there is a small temple of the Archangel Gabriel. Near the road there is a recently built beautiful chapel of the Savior of the Image Not Made by Hands. And in the building occupied by the pilgrimage center, its own house temple was created. In addition, on the monastery territory surrounded by a fence, there are two sister buildings and outbuildings.

Shrines of the Spaso-Eleazarovsky Monastery

Like many monasteries in Russia, the monastery near Pskov houses ancient icons revered by believers. One of them, the Constantinople Icon of the Mother of God, appeared in Constantinople in the middle of the 11th century, and later ended up in the Spaso-Eleazarovsky Monastery.

Tomb of Mother Superior Elisaveta

The Livonian knights who plundered the monastery took the shrine with them. It is believed that the icon drowned in Lake Peipsi. Soon after this, a copy of this icon appeared in the monastery, which has survived to this day. The icon is written on a cedar board in ancient Greek script. It depicts the Mother of God with her son, and a dove can be seen in the hands of Jesus.

Another shrine of the Orthodox monastery is the icon of the Savior of Eleazar, which is considered a masterpiece of ancient Russian art. She appeared in 1352 and was revered as miraculous. In the 14th century, they walked around Pskov with this icon, and according to legend, a crowded religious procession stopped a pestilence epidemic.

The iconographic image arrived at the monastery in 1766. In the 20th century, it ended up in Moscow for restoration and was returned to the Pskov region only in 2010. Nowadays, the icon is dressed in a special icon case, equipped with an alarm system and stored at constant temperature and humidity.

The Monk Euphrosynus was born around 1386 in the village of Videlebye, near Pskov. The parents named their son Eleazar. The Lord gifted him with good abilities, and even adults were surprised at how deeply he understood the Holy Scriptures.

From a young age, Eleazar prepared himself for monastic life; when his father and mother wanted to marry him, he secretly left the house and hid until his parents abandoned their intention. After the death of his father, the young man entered the Snetogorsky monastery and took monastic vows there with the name Euphrosynus. Having a penchant for a desert life, in search of deeper concentration in prayer, after some time, with the blessing of the abbot, he went into deserted forests on the banks of the Tolva River. This was around 1425.

Thus, the Monk Euphrosynus began a new period in the history of Pskov monasticism - the desert-dwelling period. Later, here on the Tolva River, he founded the first communal “God-Grading” monastery. Those who wanted monastic life were accepted into it without making a contribution, but “for God’s sake.” And the monks in it did not each live at their own expense, as in a special dwelling, but they had common property.

At that time, in the Pskov region there were disputes about how “Hallelujah” should be sung - two or three times. A supporter of the pure hallelujah - that is, its doubling - St. Euphrosynus went to Constantinople for clarification, where he received confirmation of the correctness of the doubling from Patriarch Joseph himself. It was there that he received an answer to the question that worried him about the meaning of his destiny. “Piety abounded in my soul,” he writes about his journey. A decade later, from Constantinople, conquered by the Turks, Patriarch Gennady II sent a sacred gift to the newly formed Euphrosyne Monastery - the Constantinople Icon of the Mother of God. The brethren met the holy icon when they came out onto the road leading to Pskov. At this place, a holy spring began to flow, which began to be called Prechistensky, and to this day its waters bring healing to people. In memory of this meeting, the hermitage was named Sretenskaya. The desert was founded on a man-made place. In order to receive all the brethren who flocked to him, the monk proposed to tear down the hill under which his cell stood between two branches of the river, and fill up one sleeve. On the site of his cell, where the three ecumenical saints appeared to him, the Monk Euphrosynus, according to their word, built the Cathedral of the Three Hierarchs in 1447. Commanding to work and pray unceasingly, the saint attached special importance to common church prayer. He said: “Even if you stood in your cell all night in prayer, your cell prayer cannot compare with the short prayer once sung in church: ‘Lord, have mercy.’” Church services in the Euphrosyne Monastery were so long that they said about the monk and his disciples: “Iron with iron.” After the prayer vigil, the monks worked all day, clearing the forest for fields and doing field work. With their labors they fed not only themselves, but also the poor who came to the monastery. There were cases when the monk gave away the last things, but the Lord did not abandon the monks with His mercy and sent them what they needed for life through benefactors. In order for monastic life to proceed decorously and spiritually, the Monk Euphrosynus drew up a monastic charter. He understood monasticism as an angelic life on earth and in his rules spoke about virginity, non-covetousness, detachment from all worldly attachments and worries, love for a brother to the point of being ready to lay down one’s soul for him, complete renunciation of one’s will and obedience, continuous work for God and for others, constant prayer and fasting as mandatory rules of life for a monk. The monk received everyone who came to the monastery with great love. This is how the monastery was gradually built, at first called the Lavra, as the author of the life of St. Savva Krypetsky testifies.

Neither before nor after St. Euphrosynus did the Pskov land know such a number of desert-dwelling companions and the monasteries they founded. And, by the way, the fates of the monasteries turned out to be very similar: foundation, service, destruction, revival, oblivion, and again - revival. None of the monasteries disappeared from the face of the earth. And the modern appearance of the Spaso-Eleazarovsky monastery is the brightest, most convincing evidence of the triumph of the Faith.

The Monk Euphrosynus died at the age of ninety-five, in 1481, having adopted the schema with the name Eleazar. In memory of him, the monastery has since been called Eleazarovskaya. His holy relics rested in the Trinity Cathedral. A will was placed on the shrine, personally written by the holy elder. It said: “I, God’s servant monk Euphrosynus, during my lifetime made a will about monastic life, about my patrimony, about fishing grounds and cages in the city and about everything that exists. I give all this at the disposal of my spiritual father, Abbot Harlampy, minister of the temple of the holy saints Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom and the Monk Onuphrius, and all my brethren in Christ. And the abbot should not take advantage of this, and neither should the brethren, nor the cellarer, nor the settlers, nor the servants in the monastery. Use this property to support the brethren together.”

The hermitage of St. Euphrosynus, lost among the age-old Pskov forests, was the spiritual center of the unification of Russian lands around Moscow. During the same period, the life of St. St. was compiled in the Eleazarov Monastery. Euphrosynus, the 2nd Pskov Chronicle was edited, and a copy of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, which subsequently came to Musin-Pushkin, was rewritten.

While the Pskov-Pechersk monastery advocated the preservation of Pskov independence, the Eleazarovsky monastery united pundits who defended the need to strengthen the state around Moscow. The exponent of this idea was Abbot Philotheus (c. 1465-1542), the author of the “Moscow - Third Rome” theory.

The main monastery shrine - the Cathedral of the Three Saints (Basily the Great, Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom) - was built around 1574 and is a magnificent example of medieval Pskov architecture.

The monastery was repeatedly attacked by Lithuanians, Poles and Livonian knights. In one such attack, the monastery was robbed and the miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Constantinople was stolen. According to monastery legend, the thieves, along with the shrine, died in Lake Psko, where it remains to this day. Soon a miraculous copy of the Constantinople Icon appeared in the monastery, which resides in the monastery.

In 1766, the brethren of the abolished Velikopustinsky Transfiguration Monastery were transferred to it, which is why the monastery was also given the names Velikopustinskaya and Spasskaya. In the monastery church, a throne was consecrated in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord, and the shrines of the Great Desert monastery were transferred here. At the same time, a miraculous icon was transferred to the monastery, which later received the name “Savior of Eleazar”.

In 1804, the brotherhood of the abolished Snetogorsk monastery was transferred to the Eleazar monastery.

In 1813, the monastery was elevated to the 2nd class, which it remained until the end of the Synodal period.

Since 1884, an almshouse operated at the monastery.

Until 1906 it was called: Spaso-Eleazarov-Velikopustynsky-Trehsvyatitelsky male, 2nd class; in 1906 it was transformed into a communal hermitage (Spaso-Eleazarova hermitage). This happened during the abbotship of Abbot Juvenal (Maslovsky).

His main activities were the improvement of church services, the introduction of eldership and the increase in brotherhood. In church services, he introduced splendor, order, decorum and the special desert singing of the Glinsk Hermitage.

At the invitation of Fr. Juvenal in 1908, Schema-Archimandrite Gabriel, a student of the Optina elders, was transferred to retire to the Spaso-Eleazar Hermitage. Among the elder’s spiritual children was the Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna, now glorified as a new martyr. She visited the monastery several times and took an active part in its organization and decoration.

In 1910, part of the brethren of the Glinsk Hermitage came here, famous for their eldership, communal life and special charter, which was laid, together with the charter of St. Euphrosynus, as the basis for the newly organized Eleazar Hermitage. At the same time, the converter’s attention was directed mainly to the internal renewal of the monastery, to the cultivation of true asceticism in the hearts of the brethren, in accordance with the monastic vows and covenants of its holy founders.

Thanks to the introduction of a hostel, the monastery was able to house up to a hundred residents within its walls instead of the previous two dozen. According to the monastery charter, each of the brethren had to be obedient, and all work, even the most menial, in the monastery was carried out by the monks themselves. For economic needs, the monastery established tailoring, shoemaking, and carpentry workshops; it had its own painters, plasterers, etc. An icon painting workshop was set up. The monastery could satisfy all economic needs with its own resources and resources.

Every year, on the feast of the apostles Peter and Paul, June 29 and 30 according to Art. style (12 and 13 AD), with the icon of the Savior, a religious procession was made from the monastery along the waters of Lake Pskov to the island of Talabsk, and then to the island of Verny to the monastery of Peter and Paul. The tradition of holding a religious procession continued until the 50s of the 20th century.

By 1917, there were 18 monastics and 15 novices in the Spaso-Eleazar Monastery; land holdings amounted to 338 acres.

In 1918, the Spaso-Eleazarovskaya monastery was closed, the monks were taken on carts towards Petrograd and there they accepted martyrdom.

Back in the spring of 1920, there was a monastery church, from where church utensils were taken out three times “to help the starving people of the Volga region.” In the summer of the same year, an institute was first opened on the territory of the monastery, from which professors and students almost immediately moved to Petrograd. Then the authorities tried to organize exemplary agricultural production; It took several months for what the monks had created to crumble. Alternately, the People's House, a home for defective children, a children's tuberculosis sanatorium and a recreation center were opened in the Eleazarovsky monastery. Until 1999, the children’s sports camp “Shield” and a residential complex were located on the territory of the monastery. Of more than twenty buildings, only the cathedral church and a two-story fraternal building remained.

On May 8, 2000, on the day of memory of St. Euphrosynus, a bishop's service was held in the monastery. This day is considered the date of the revival of the ancient Spaso-Eleazar monastery.

On August 25, 2000, with the blessing of the ever-memorable His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II, nun Elizabeth was appointed abbess of the Spaso-Eleazarovsky Convent. In 2005, nun Elizabeth was elevated to the rank of abbess, and 8 nuns were tonsured. In 2005, the restoration of the 1904 fraternal building was completed. On August 10, 2005, Bishop Eusebius served the rite of blessing the bells at the restored belfry.

On August 9, 2012, Metropolitan of Pskov and Velikoluksky Eusebius celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Spaso-Eleazarovsky Convent and appointed. the abbess of the monastery was nun Euphrosyne (Golovneva).

On April 23, 2016, on Lazarus Saturday, Metropolitan Eusebius of Pskov and Porkhov performed a festive service at the Spaso-Eleazarovsky Convent, and elevated the abbess of the monastery, nun Euphrosyne (Golovneva) to the rank of abbess.

The monastery is located in one of the most picturesque places in the Pskov region. You can get to the monastery by making a short journey. The Holy Land is located 27 km north of Pskov.

The history of the founding of the monastery is interesting. It was he who became the forerunner of the ten monasteries of the Pskov region. The monastery was founded in 1447. This year the Monk Euphrosynus (Eliazar - in the world) was returning from a trip to Constantinople. Where I attended a reception with His Holiness Patriarch Gennady II. There the future rector received the highest blessing and the Constantinople Icon of the Mother of God.

On the way back, on the shore of Lake Olga, the Monk Euphrosynus met the brethren. It was at this place that the blessed beginning of the Spaso-Eleazarovsky Monastery was laid. And the clergyman himself became the first of the desert dwellers. It is believed that the place where the saint met with his brothers was marked by a miracle: the Prechistinsky spring appeared there. To this day, this key brings relief to sick parishioners.

Monks from among the brethren became disciples of Euphrosynus. Later they founded new holy monasteries in the Pskov land. Savva Krypetsky laid the foundation for the St. John the Theologian Monastery, Onuphrius - the Malsky Monastery, Nikandr - the Nikandrovskaya Hermitage. In total, 10 monasteries appeared, existing to this day.

Spaso-Eleazarovsky Monastery is one of the architectural monuments. Its main shrine is the Cathedral of the Three Saints (Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom, Basil the Great). The temple was erected around 74 of the 16th century. It was not possible to establish the exact date; construction lasted for several years.

Along with most medieval buildings in the Pskov region, the monastery was subject to numerous enemy raids. At different times, the monastery was attacked by Lithuanians, Poles and Livonian knights. In 66 of the 18th century, the local holy brotherhood was expanded to include the monks of the Spaso-Great Desert Monastery. From that day on, the Spaso-Eleazar monastery received the name Spaso-Velikopustinskaya. Ten years later, the iconostasis of the Cathedral of the Three Saints was replenished with an image of Christ. The icon, painted in the 14th century, began to bear the name of the Savior of Eleazar.

The revolution of 17 became a real disaster for the monastery. The monastery was closed. And the icon of the Savior ended up in one of the Pskov museums. The monastery building became a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients. Later, the hospital was closed, and a camp for children was located within the walls of the monastery. The institution existed here until 1999.

The Spaso-Eleazarovsky Monastery returned to the fold of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000, before the new President of the Russian Federation took office. The historical return took place on the day of honoring the icon of the Mother of God “Life-Giving Source”.

The first service within the walls of the monastery took place on May 28 of the same year. The service was dedicated to its founder, St. Euphrosynus. On the same day, the renewed (now female) monastery received mother abbess Elizabeth. The monastery owes to this great woman the return of the Savior of Eleazar, which took place on August 19, 2010. Unfortunately, mother was not able to see the historical icon with her own eyes, not having lived until that day for only 2 months. On June 4, Abbess Elizabeth died.

Currently, the Spaso-Eleazarovsky Convent is prospering. Thousands of pilgrims visit its walls every year. The monastery has become one of the important tourist attractions of the Pskov region.

This place was especially suitable for the solitary prayer of hermits. Back in 1425, Euphrosynus retired to an impassable desert place, on the bank of the Tolva River, where Saints Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom appeared to him in a dream. They showed him the place to build a temple in their name with a chapel in the name of St. Onuphrius the Great.

Soon this place, surrounded by two branches of the river, became cramped for the brethren. Although Rev. Euphrosynus was not the abbot of the monastery he created, but his proposal to fill up the right branch of the river was accepted unquestioningly by everyone. Abbot of the monastery, Rev. Ignatius,he himself was a student of Euphrosynus and at the same timehis spiritual father. Such was the power of the reverend’s humility. Euphrosynus, who did not even want to accept holy orders, but he was the ktitor of the monastery.

The monk also wrote the Charter of the monastery. Like St. Sergius of Radonezh, he became the spiritual mentor of many ascetics who, having left the Euphrosyne monastery, with the blessing of the elder, founded ten monasteries in the Pskov region and were glorified among the saints: Savva of Krypetsky, Nikandr the Desert-Dweller, Dositheus of Verkhneostrovsky, Hilarion of Pskovovozersky, Onufriy of Malsky and other.

Cathedral of Pskov Saints

For many centuries, the monastery was significant due to the presence of two revered icons in it: the Spaso-Eleazar image of the All-Merciful Savior and the Constantinople Icon of the Mother of God.
On the Constantinople icon, Jesus is in the arms of the Mother of God, holding a dove in his hand - an image of the Holy Spirit. With one leg the baby seems to affirm the repentant sinner, and with the other he pushes away the unrepentant one. There is a thread in the Lord’s palm - a connecting thread between God and man, secretly revealed to us in the Communion of the Holy Mysteries.

Rev. Euphrosynus and Rev. Serapion with the Constantinople Icon of the Mother of God

The Constantinople Icon of the Mother of God was miraculously transferred to Constantinople from Rome in 1051 at a time when the division of the Church into Western and Eastern began. When Euphrosynus went to Constantnople to resolve the controversial issue of how to correctly read a prayer at a service: "Alleluia, alleluia, glory to You God" ( At this time in Pskov, a certain “raspop” Job caused great confusion among the people, speaking about pronouncing the words “alleluia” three times, which almost led to a schism), the patriarch gave him the Constantinople Icon of the Mother of God. Having accepted the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, Saint Euphrosynus received a revelation about the “new” empire, which is the image of the Kingdom of God on earth, and about Moscow as the Third Rome.

St. Euphrosynus of Pskov. Icon. 17th century, records 2nd half. XIX century (GMIR)

The saint’s hermitage became the spiritual center of the unification of Russian lands around Moscow, and a chapel of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Moscow style was added to the Three Hierarchs Cathedral of traditional Pskov architecture. The two churches, complementing each other, form a single cathedral complex, which contains a deep meaning: “Pskov is thought of as the beginning of Russian statehood, Moscow as its formation and greatness.”

Christmas aisle on the right

In 1707, at the Spassky Metochion from the Great Desert Monastery, a church was built in honor of the Mid-Pentecost. It was built to perform services during the religious procession, which took place from the monastery in Pskov from the 16th century on the day of Midsummer of Easter around the city of Pskov. In 1864, a stone tented bell tower was again built over the porch of this temple instead of the former bell tower with pillars.

In 1766, the staff of the abolished Spaso-Great Desert Monastery was transferred to the monastery, and with it the icon of the All-Merciful Savior was transferred. Initially, on the site of the appearance of this icon, the Great Desert parish was built with a church that had previously been a monastery in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord. That is why on August 19, thousands of pilgrims from all over the world gathered at the monastery; the number of pilgrims sometimes reached 20,000.

Behind the right choir of the Cathedral of the Three Saints, the relics of St. Euphrosynus rest hidden in the wall. In 1902, an arch was made in the cathedral wall, in which a tomb was placed over the relics of St. Euphrosynus, on top of which was placed his ancient icon, painted by St. Ignatius.

In 1874, the body and robe of the rector, Schema-Archimandrite Vassian, were found incorrupt. In 1902, during the reconstruction of the chapel, it was also discovered that the relics were incorruptible, only the coffin had rotted, and the crypt was covered with stone slabs. Above this place there was a raised platform, one quarter of an arshin from the floor, on which the funeral service was located.

In history, the monastery also became famous for the elder Schema-Archimandrite Gabriel Zyryanov (died in 1915), who attracted pilgrims to him.

One of his students was the rector (from October 1906 to October 1910) of the Spaso-Eleazarovsky Monastery, Iuvenaliy Maslovsky, the future Bishop of Ryazan, who suffered under Soviet rule, and is now a renowned martyr.

In 1910, at the expense of benefactors - the spiritual children of Elder Gabriel - a small house church in the name of St. Archangel Gabriel was built opposite the Church of the Three Hierarchs. The iconostasis was donated by Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna, who knew the elder well. Subsequently, a chapel in honor of the priest will be consecrated in the Three Hierarchs Church. led book Elizabeth.

In 1918, the Spaso-Elizarov Velikopustinsky Monastery was closed, the monks were taken on carts towards Petrograd, where they suffered martyrdom. However, back in the spring of 1920, the monastery church was in operation, from where church utensils were taken out three times “to help the starving people of the Volga region.” The icon of the Constantinople Mother of God was preserved by the famous elder Nikolai Guryanov, who lived on the island of Zalita in Lake Pskov, opposite the Elezar Monastery. The path along which Father Nicholas walked to the monastery is called the road of the Savior, since along it they also brought the miraculous icon of the All-Merciful Savior from the monastery to the island.

The monastery at that time was located behind a stone wall, along the edges of which towers were placed.
In the center of the monastery there was a cathedral temple, there were also two churches and five chapels. Despite all the destruction, hope for the restoration of the monastery and the revival of Rus' did not go away. The words of Elder Philotheus spoken back in the 16th century:

“All Christian kingdoms have come to an end and converged in a single kingdom of our sovereign, according to the prophetic books, and this is the Russian kingdom: for two Romes have fallen, and the third stands, and the fourth will not happen,” - now inscribed on the bill of the Elezarov Monastery - a copper plate , which began to be used instead of a bell, since the beautiful bell tower of the Trinity Cathedral was destroyed.

In 2000, the Spaso-Elizarovsky Monastery was transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church. Now this is the Spaso-Elizarovsky Convent for women. On May 28, 2000, the consecration of the St. Elizabeth's Church took place on the first floor of the Nativity chapel. The first icon that was brought to the monastery was the Tsaregradskaya icon, painted in the Spaso-Eleazarov Monastery. It was handed over by Father Nikolai Guryanov from Talab Island, where it was kept for forty years in the altar of the temple.

One and a half kilometers from the monastery walls there is a holy spring with a font, called Prechistensky, the same one that appeared at the meeting place of the Constantinople icon brought by St. Euphrosyne from Constantinople. Previously, there was a wooden chapel of the Virgin Mary, built specifically at the source. In the middle of the chapel there was a large cross with the image of the Crucifixion, there were icons of St. Euphrosyne, Serapion and the Constantinople Mother of God. The outside of the chapel was crowned with a large wooden cross.

One of the local residents said: “I’m walking along the road, a car stops. The young people sitting in it began to ask where the holy spring was located in these places. Their mother, a terminally ill woman, had a dream that she could recover if she drank water from the holy spring of the Spaso-Eliazarov Monastery. I showed where the spring is. A year later, these people came to the source again and shared their joy about their mother’s recovery. Thus, one of many testimonies about the miraculous healing power of the Holy Spring was obtained.”

Just 25 kilometers from Pskov, if you go strictly north,
Spaso-Eleazarovsky Convent is located.

In 1425, these were remote, deserted places, when the search for deeper
concentration in prayer, the Monk Euphrosynus (worldly name Eleazar) came here and settled on the banks of the Tolba River, founding a monastery.

He died in the 96th year of his earthly life as an angel, having taken the schema with the name Eleazar before his death.

In memory of him, the monastery has since been called Eleazarovskaya. His holy relics rested in the Trinity Cathedral. A will was placed on the shrine, personally written by the holy elder

Three Saints Cathedral

The main monastery shrine - the Cathedral of the Three Saints (Basily the Great, Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom) - was built around 1574.

The sign on it calls the monastery Spaso-Elizarovsky

The monastery was repeatedly attacked by Lithuanians, Poles and Livonian knights. In one such attack, the monastery was robbed and the miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Constantinople was stolen. According to monastery legend, the thieves, along with the shrine, died in Lake Pskov, where it remains to this day. Soon a miraculous copy of the Constantinople Icon appeared in the monastery, which resides in the monastery.

Back in the spring of 1920, there was a monastery church, from where church utensils were taken out three times “to help the starving people of the Volga region.” In the summer of the same year, the first opened on the territory of the monastery
an institute from which professors and students almost immediately moved to Petrograd. Then the authorities tried to organize exemplary agricultural production; It took several months for what the monks had created to crumble. Alternately, the People's House, a home for defective children, a children's tuberculosis sanatorium and a recreation center were opened in the Eleazarovsky monastery. Until 1999, the children’s sports camp “Shield” and a residential complex were located on the territory of the monastery. Of more than twenty buildings, only the cathedral remains
a temple and a two-story fraternal building.

The Pskov Spaso-Eleazar Monastery is not the most famous monastic monastery, but in terms of its significance for Russia and for the destinies of mankind, it occupies a special place in world history.

It was here, in a deserted monastery located among forests, that the Constantinople Icon of the Mother of God, a gift from Patriarch Gennady II of Constantinople, was brought as a relay of succession. Here, a century later, Elder Philotheus formulated the idea of ​​Russia’s universal responsibility for Orthodoxy, for humanity: “Two Romes have fallen, but a third stands, but a fourth will not exist,” is written on a copper plaque.

From the side of the lake, the temple looks especially solemn.

On May 28, 2000, on the day of memory of St. Euphrosynus, a bishop's service was held in the monastery.
This day is considered the date of the revival of the ancient Spaso-Eleazar monastery.

August 25, 2000, with the blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and all
Rus' Alexia II nun Elisaveta was appointed abbess of the Spaso-Eleazarovsky convent.

In 2005, nun Elizabeth was elevated to the rank of abbess, and 8 nuns were tonsured. In 2005, the restoration of the 1904 fraternal building was completed. On August 10, 2005, Bishop Eusebius served the rite of blessing the bells at the restored belfry.

Before restoration, the monastery ensemble, declared an architectural monument of the Republican
significance, consisted of the dilapidated Three Saints Cathedral (2nd half of the 16th - early 19th centuries), a fraternal building (1904), and the remains of a stone fence.

The unique monastery bell tower (XVI century), which has no analogues in Pskov architecture, collapsed in May 1989.

The return of the Spaso-Eleazarovsky Monastery took place on the day when the Byzantine shrine - the icon of the Mother of God "Life-Giving Spring" - is honored. This monastery is truly alive
source of God's grace. Spaso-Eleazarovsky Monastery is a symbol of the revival of the Third Rome - our Fatherland. Russia will rise with it

Chapel of the Transfiguration of the Lord